Electrochemically-mediated selective capture of heavy metal chromium and arsenic oxyanions from water
Name
s41467-018-07159-0.pdf
Size
1.71 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3ba04430c95a2ef98c211895e31b19c2
Author(s)
Su, Xiao
Kushima, Akihiro
Halliday, Cameron George
Zhou, Jian
Li, Ju
Hatton, Trevor Alan
Date Issued
November 2018
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Su, Xiao, Akihiro Kushima, Cameron Halliday, Jian Zhou, Ju Li, and T. Alan Hatton. “Electrochemically-Mediated Selective Capture of Heavy Metal Chromium and Arsenic Oxyanions from Water.” Nature Communications 9, no. 1 (November 8, 2018).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The removal of highly toxic, ultra-dilute contaminants of concern has been a primary challenge for clean water technologies. Chromium and arsenic are among the most prevalent heavy metal pollutants in urban and agricultural waters, with current separation processes having severe limitations due to lack of molecular selectivity. Here, we report redox-active metallopolymer electrodes for the selective electrochemical removal of chromium and arsenic. An uptake greater than 100 mg Cr/g adsorbent can be achieved electrochemically, with a 99% reversible working capacity, with the bound chromium ions released in the less harmful trivalent form. Furthermore, we study the metallopolymer response during electrochemical modulation by in situ transmission electron microscopy. The underlying mechanisms for molecular selectivity are investigated through electronic structure calculations, indicating a strong charge transfer to the heavy metal oxyanions. Finally, chromium and arsenic are remediated efficiently at concentrations as low as 100 ppb, in the presence of over 200-fold excess competing salts.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07159-0
